REMINDER: The Little Silver School District ​and Community Need Your Support!

Second grade teacher, Lindsey Ince (formerly Lindsey Thompson, Little Silver native) and her husband, James, welcomed their second child, Arabelle into the world on May 16, 2017. This happy time turned challenging when their first-born, 19 month-old Lily, was diagnosed with High Risk Neuroblastoma just a few weeks after she became a big sister. She is in the process of being treated at CHOP in PA and began her first round of chemotherapy on June 12.

Recreation Director, Doug Glassmacher, is organizing a One Pitch Softball Tournament on Saturday, September 16, 2017 beginning at 2:00 PM to be held at the Library and Borough Fields. Existing Little Silver Men’s Softball teams will sponsor and participate in the tournament that will also include live music, children's activities, grilled food and refreshments. The Little Silver community can support this cause by attending, purchasing food, and contributing through donations. While the Little Silver Men's Softball teams will be featured in the tournament play, there will be opportunities for the Little Silver staff to participate. All are welcome to attend!

A “Go Fund Me” page entitled “LoveForLilyJ” has been established and can be accessed via https://www.gofundme.com/loveforlilyjPLEASE SAVE THE DATE – SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16th! Additionally, please send love, prayers, and positive thoughts out to Lily, her newborn sister Arabelle, and her parents Lindsey and James!

The Garden State Coalition of Schools​Advocates for Fair Funding

​The Garden State Coalition of Schools (GSCS) is a non-partisan, non-profit Education Advocacy Organization to which the Little Silver School Districts belongs. See http://www.gscschools.org. Members include parents, board of education members and superintendents, all of whom bring a broad perspective to GSCS initiatives. Each year, the GSCS develops a list of Critical Issues that are the focus of the school year. The top issues for the 2017-18 school year include:Funding:

Continue the move towards full funding of the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) formula

Plan and strike agreement on 2018-2019 school funding in advance of the Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Speech in February to allow districts to plan properly

Continue to question unfunded mandates as legislation is introduced/discussed in committee

In 2008, the New Jersey Legislature enacted a statewide school funding formula referred to as SFRA. The SFRA is a "weighted student formula." The formula delivers state and local funding driven by a “base cost,” or the per pupil amount necessary to support the core curriculum program for every student, regardless of need. The formula also delivers extra funding to support programs for underprivileged (at-risk) students, Limited-English Proficient (LEP) students, and students with disabilities, regardless of where those students live. These extra funds are calculated as a percentage of the base cost, called a "weight." Under the SFRA, every district has a "weighted student enrollment," where students are counted for purposes of generating state and local revenue using the base cost plus the weights reflecting unique student needs. The Borough of Little Silver sends the State of New Jersey over $23 million dollars toward State expenses. A portion is devoted to education costs. In return, Little Silver received only $321,655 in State Aid! The State views Little Silver as a district having the ability to pay for our students’ education. As a result, taxpayers assume 94.3% of the total cost to run the district. As explained in the past, operating costs exceed the 2% property tax cap, forcing the district to make very difficult budgetary decisions. Another GSCS priority for the 2017-18 school year includes Special Education funding reform and challenges to unfunded mandates.

PARCC Results

The DOE has released its "Comparison of New Jersey's Spring 2015, Spring 2016 and Spring 2017 PARCC Administrations.” Little Silver has continued to excel. PARCC scores for last year’s 3rd-8th grade students were mailed home. There will be a PARCC Score Report Presentation during the September 20th BOE meeting. Select button below to view comparison.

In an effort to promote physical and emotional health, Little Silver parents are organizing a Walking School Bus program for Point Road and Markham Place Schools! To learn more about Walking School Bus initiatives, please visit http://www.walkingschoolbus.org/. The Little Silver Walking School Bus initiative hopes to get students walking or biking to school with adult supervision, thereby minimizing street traffic. If you have specific questions, please feel free to contact the coordinators: 1). Christen McMahon - [email protected], 2). Carolyn Smolinksy - [email protected] or, 3). Abi Healy - [email protected]. Further, to sign up to volunteer visit http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0a48aaab2aa4ff2-lswalking.

Little Silver Introduces Broadcasting ​to Markham Place Students

As a result of a generous donation from a private donor, a significant investment of time from district administrators, the dedication of time and energy from Network Administrator Dan Gaestel, as well as the time devoted by the Technology and STEM teachers to curriculum revision, the Little Silver School District is thrilled to introduce Broadcasting to the Technology Curriculum! In this first year of implementation, students in grades 5 through 8 will all have one unit of broadcasting in their Technology Curriculum. To learn more about this or any district level curricula, please view Rubicon Atlas, our online curriculum website, at https://littlesilverschools-public.rubiconatlas.org to browse by grade, content area, or key word.

Did you know that Markham Place School will be implementing a modified Block Schedule this year? Mr. Platt listened to community, staff and student concerns and created a “Scheduling Committee” during the 2015-16 school year. Members of the committee met throughout the 2016-17 school year to read research, discuss Markham Place programming, and decide on schedule modifications that would best meet the needs of all students. While there will be some decreases in instructional time in some content areas (i.e. ELA moves from 90-minute blocks to 80-minute blocks; Science and Social Studies move from daily 45-minute periods to 80-minute blocks every other day), there will be an increase in Math Instruction by 6,300 minutes! Mr. Platt shared of the information from his August 29th Parent Meeting through both the attachment to his CodeRed as well as via the Virtual Backpack.

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Author

As Superintendent of Little Silver Schools District I am committed to preparing your children for their future, not for our past. Children continue to excel and thrive when they are given opportunities to explore and learn through exceptional instruction in a warm, nurturing environment.

Mission Statement:In partnership with families and community, the Little Silver Borough Public School District is invested in continued excellence by inspiring critical thinking, fostering intellectual curiosity, and promoting acceptance of individuals, allowing children to achieve their full potential as responsible, contributing citizens of an ever-changing global community.